MAJOR TOWN ISSUES
Do our councillors pay them selves too much ? FoI details
(December 11, 2010)WARMINSTER'S five unitary councillors banked almost £90,000 between them in the first full year of operation of the new Wiltshire Council, we can reveal.
On top of this they have already agreed to a 7.7 per cent rise which came into operation in April 2010 and will receive a 7.2 per cent pay rise in 2011 and a 6.7 per cent increase in 2012.
Top of the local claimers was
councillor Keith Humphries who represents Warminster south and gets
extra bonuses because he is a member of the cabinet.He pulled in £25,205 between July 2009 and June 2010 but by the final year of office on the current council he will be topping £30,000 a year because increases in his cabinet allowance and basic allowance are already agreed by the full council.
Next in the pecking order is Fleur de rhe Philipe, another cabinet member, who grossed £24,768 over the same period.
Third highest is cllr Andrew Davis, who received £16,176. Although he is not a cabinet member Andrew receives additional money from his chairmanship of the area board.
Lowest remunerated Conservative is cllr Pip Ridout who received £11,992 for her work.
Lowest paid councillor locally is Independent group leader Christopher Newbury who only received £11,423, Although cllr Newbury is also entitled to addition allowances by virtue of his membership of the fire authority he is the only councillor not to have made any claim in relation to travel or subsistence.
All councillors get a technology allowance - so there's no excuse for not answering e-mails.
The information was obtained via a Freedom of Information request made to County Hall and there is no suggesting of any improper behaviour by any member.
''I think most people will be as shocked to hear of the large sums paid out to our councillors for performing this public service function as I am but what will amaze them is the size of the increases in the pipeline and already agreed,'' said former county councillor Steve Dancey.
''To agree to such big rises at a time when the budget is under such pressure and when councillors are trying to weasel through new charges to hit ordinary people hard, then someone has to tell them to stop and think.''
Paul Macdonald served as a councillor on the former district council and was constantly out of pocket each month because of his commitment to serving the community.
"I cannot accept that most members deserve this amount of financial support for pushing through a party political agenda at a local level," says Paul.
"I served as a 'pavement politics' politician with a vision for Warminster back then and if called upon would have given the skills needed to serve with additional responsibilities on a loss of earnings basis."
Think again plea
Steve Dancey added: ''I intend to address the full council to remind them of their responsibilities and at the same time produce a new system of allowances which will be fair, more open and will encourage a wider spectrum of society to come forward for election.''In 1989 allowances were £20 a meeting and that was it but the calibre of members was infinitely higher with emeritus professors, retired brigadiers, chairman of national businesses, big landowners and farmers and future MPs within the ranks.
''Councillors will say that the pay was agreed by an independent panel - to that I would say stuff the panel and ask the voters - you'd get a very rude noise back.''